For owls that are superb.
Photo by Scott Kiser
Thank goodness for sturdy tripods and image stabilization! photographed this Crested Owl deep in the rainforest in the pouring rain. My shutter speed was 1/30s. Many shots in the sequence were blurry, but as they say, you just need one to be sharp. Awesome bird spotted by our guide Kenneth M Gutiérrez at Centro Manú, Limón Province, Costa Rica, August 1st. - at Centro Manú Costa Rica.
From the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal
After two years patiently waiting for his moment, a Sooke wildlife photographer achieved his dream, capturing a rare moment when a barred owl went beak to claw with a crayfish.
Sooke's Brian Rundle was out in the early hours of Monday, Aug. 20, photographing tree frogs, when he stumbled across the owl perched on a log, staring into the stream below.
“It jumped off the log and went into the water and started splashing in the stream,” said Rundle. “By the time I had my camera, it was sitting on a rock with a crayfish.”
With the crayfish firmly in the grip of the owl's beak, Rundle thought the battle between the two was over, but the crustacean had other ideas.
“I thought, holy hell, he's fighting back,” said Rundle. “The crayfish was pinching, still trying to get away. But eventually the owl just ripped the pinchers off and ate them, swallowed them whole.”
The moment was one that Rundle had chased for so long, with no success.
“I've been after that bird so many times,” said Rundle. “I've been out, I don't know, countless times, and got nothing. One time it did almost happen … but it had its back to me, so I missed out on that one.”
Rundle had all but given up photographing the crayfish-loving owls, which meant he was unprepared when the moment flew into his lap.
“I was real happy, but the other half of me was annoyed that I didn’t have my really good camera,” said Rundle. “My other camera not only is sharper, it handles the low light better than this one. But I thought, ah well, at least I got it. I've been doing this for 900 years, you think I would know better.
“But I looked up, said, ‘thank you’ to whoever was looking after me that day,” he continued. “When it comes to stuff like this, photographing wildlife, I find a lot of it is luck.”
It's not unheard of for barred owls to eat crayfish. According to experts, if they eat enough, the feathers under their wings can turn pink, just like a flamingo. But Rundle’s photos have captured the imaginations of people online, who have never seen the behaviour before or even knew that the nocturnal bird had a seafood diet.
"That's the kind of feedback I'm getting on Facebook. You could say that it is rare to see them do this,” said Rundle. “But I'm sure if you ask the owl, it's not rare, they do it every day.”
Despite finally capturing the long-awaited moment, Rundle is striving for more.
“My background is video work,” he said. “I used to shoot for TV – I worked on a kids TV show called Kratt’s Creatures – so I was arguing with myself that I should shoot video of the owl. Maybe that’s a job for me next time, if I can be in the right place, right time again.”
Photos by Fei Cheng via Bird Alliance of Oregon
Have you ever spotted a Flammulated Owl? For photographer Fei Cheng, the bird in these photographs was a lifer! Unlike other owl species, the Flammulated Owl feeds primarily on insects like crickets, moths, and beetles.
Where in Oregon can you find them? They have been found to breed on the eastern slope of the Cascades, as well as in the Blue and Wallowa mountains. You'll only find them here during breeding season as they winter in Mexico and Central America.
Owls are famous for their neck twisting abilities. Backwards, upside down, it seems like they can go in near any direction with ease. Most times, this is advantageous for them, but sometimes it can be the painful symptom of an underlying problem.
Torticollis is Latin for "twisted neck", and it is also called wry neck, crook neck, or stargazing. It is not a disease in itself, as it is always caused by something else. There are many conditions that can cause this condition in birds of all kinds. Vitamin deficiency, neurological conditions, head or eye trauma, heavy metal or chemical poisoning, or birth defects are all possible reasons a bird may develop this condition. Other animals, including humans, can also develop torticollis. I saw this NIH article that says around 90% of people will have at least one case of it in their lives!
Torticollis is the result of muscle spasms in the neck. It can be painful and make it difficult to move the head. Prolonged cases can cause the muscles to develop unevenly, making itself worse. Depending on the affected nerves and muscles, the head can end up in just about any position. After time, the head can no longer be held in its correct position, making it difficult or impossible to eat or drink, to fly, or to perch. The damage from the loss of equilibrium or being unable to eat/drink can make this scary looking but rather benign condition a fatal one in untreated animals.
Another sign of torticollis is called twirling. This is due to the loss or equilibrium and is what makes it difficult for the bird to perch, and they can't keep themselves upright. Here is a video of a finch exhibiting twirling behavior.
Thankfully, it is not a contagious condition as it is neurological, and if the underlying cause can be treated, it can be fixed. Here is a Burrow Owl in a neck brace, to try and keep the head at a neutral position. This can aid the bird in eating and stabilizing itself easier.
Birds with this condition should be quarantined to minimize anything that could aggravate the condition further, such as aggression from other birds or injury from the environment and additional stress. If it is disease related, treatment with antibiotics or antifungals can be administered. Calcium deficiency can be a cause that is easily treatable with supplements. Vitamin E and selenium deficiencies can also be causes. Anti-inflammatories can reduce swelling from skull injury. If the bird is poisoned, that must be remedied as soon as possible. As you can see, knowing the root cause is mandatory in helping the bird.
Muscles can also be massaged, and the head and neck can be manipulated to try to relax the tension and reduce the pain. Here is a video of someone doing that to one of their chickens.
It seems like a condition with a long recovery time, especially in more severe cases, but with careful and proper treatment, many birds are able to recover as long as the underlying cause is treatable.
From World Bird Sanctuary
Chiropractic care for birds? We're trying something new for some of our patients with torticollis, a condition where the head is twisted partially or fully upside down! Torticollis can be the result of a number of injuries including head trauma, lead toxicity, and infections. Physical therapy has long been a part of our treatment for torticollis, but isn't always effective. We'd like to thank Heather Seaver for her donation of her chiropractic services to give some of these patients another care option to help them recover. So far, chiropractic seems to be very relaxing to the patients receiving it.
Shown is Barred Owl 24-519 during a chiropractic session. The chiropractic seems to help relax him and there was notable improvement to his muscle tension after his session. 519 is suffering from lead poisoning, some older ocular trauma, and torticollis. When he was found, he kept making it up into a tree but was then not able to fly straight and kept falling back to the ground. This could be from the torticollis, or from the lead poisoning which is causing him to clench his feet and legs abnormally some of the time.
I was a bit surprised to see this. I know there tends to be some debate on if chiropractics is a good thing or not. I'd be very nervous with those hollow bones!
Our Medical Clinic recently celebrated the release of a long-term patient with an incredible journey.
On December 3rd, 2022, we admitted an adult female Great Horned Owl who had been found stunned by the roadside in Awendaw. During her initial exam, our staff discovered a large open wound on her back, feather damage to her right wing, a corneal ulcer in her right eye, and an old injury to her foot.
Upon further examination, we found that she had also been shot, with multiple pellets still in her body-though, miraculously, she had no fractures.
Our team quickly got to work, cleaning and treating her wounds. While we managed to close most of her back wound with daily care and sutures, there was still much more work to be done to ensure her full recovery.
Her journey is a powerful reminder of the dedication of our staff and the impact of your donations. Stay tuned for more of her inspiring story and injuries she overcame.
HELP US unlock a $10,000 match an anonymous and generous donor has pledged. Together, we can reach our goal and continue helping birds like her thrive!
Ixonia has been very popular here recently from her photo of her wing cast and her in the burrito wrap. It sounds like her situation is improving! Hooting video at the link.
From Hoo's Woods
"Who's feeling better today?" Ixonia is responding to Dianne with a hearty hoot! Now in her second week of recovery, Ixonia still has a long road ahead. Rarely does a bird respond like this, but this spirited exchange is a welcome sign. So "Who' had the last word? Ixonia and she shared some mighty strong opinions!
Went to see if I could get any fun pics of Otis the Screech Owl looking scruffy from his molt after seeing the post of him the other day. He was up in the corner of the roof, so I couldn't really get any pics of him that looked any good. He didn't look too scruffy anyway though. His pen was full of feathers, so he still seems to be shedding them to grow in new ones.
Annabelle was in a good spot and was being relaxed today. I got the photo above of her looking proud, and also this one of her shooting a dirty look.
Not many of the other animals were out, but the grey foxes were napping together on the roof of their house. It reminded me of Snoopy.
Photo by Joshua Wiley
The other week, when I was in Utah, I visited a very famous park. It was hot, really hot. This park had a gift shop, but the gift shop was just a garage bay, without air-conditioning, in one of the headquarters support buildings.
When I visited, I asked a very nice but very hot lady, who was manning the gift shop, if she knew of any good locations for Burrowing Owls, (Athene cunicularia). Unsolicited, she explained that there were actually three Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) roosting during the day in a hay barn around the corner. (The hay is for feeding Bison and Pronghorn in winter.)
Very excitedly, I went and paid a brief and respectful visit to these avatars of Athena. Two of the owls were awake and active. A third was tucked against a wall and sleeping. To me, getting close to such big, beautiful owls in good light was very special. I hope, though, that they are not often disturbed by eager birders or scheming photogs.
This big beautiful girl came to us yesterday and has what am almost certain is a broken left humerus. We always like to get confirmation with an x-ray but our avian vet was unable to fit us in today.
This is the downfall of being a rehabber...you can't always get into a vet quickly. Most of the time we are able to diagnose and treat these birds ourselves, but as with anything if I am even slightly on the fence about a diagnosis, I don't hesitate to have a veterinarian confirm.
If this is what suspect, and the break is on the joint this bird will have a grim outcome. It has been a rough season for us. We have had some very sick birds come to us and many have had to be euthanized or passed away before we could euthanize. I am hoping I am wrong about this one because she is mean and hateful which equals a force to be reckoned with in nature.
This is the little Screech Owl that lives near my work. He seems to be having a very heavy molt. Otis is a shy guy, but he usually makes little owl noises at me. I may have to pay him a visit again if he's looking this funky!
From Upper Schuylkill Valley Park
Think you're having a bad hair day? Well, just take a look at our resident Screech Owl, Otis!
Otis is currently molting his feathers and has lost a good amount of feathers on his head!
Molting is when birds shed old worn-out feathers to replace them with new fresh feathers, often to prepare for seasonal changes.
Some birds molt more gracefully than others. In a few weeks Otis will be back to being his fully feathered handsome self, but for now he's in a balding awkward stage (but we still think he's handsome)!
Photo by Patty Dexter
There's been quite the number of young Saw Whets shared here recently, but I think the adults are just as cute!
I like this little one's distant gaze.
I thought this might be something worthwhile to do. I already have at least one rehab per state, and a few international ones that I follow, so with some of you becoming interested in supporting the owls directly recently, I thought it may be helpful to make an all-in-one resource for the owls.
I can break them out by location, and have if you can visit, how you can get in contact with them, donation links so you can support who services your area, and if they have an online store for owl merch.
I got started using Google Sheets, but before I got too far, I wanted to see if that was the best way to do this. Is this going to be usable for the most number of people, or should I do the list some other way? Do these items seem to cover everything you'd want to know or am I missing something? I felt this was pretty full coverage, without having to break down everything, like if they have a Chewy wishlist in addition to an Amazon list, you can still find it on the donation page, or you can get the street address from their main website, etc.
I don't think there is any resource like this out there. Finding some of these places was difficult for me doing the 50 States of Owls, so this could be an important resource with benefit outside of Lemmy even.
Let me know your thoughts on how we can best do this or if you know a facility near you that you want to see on the list.
